Pooch stuck on cliff was one lucky dog

A small dog that got trapped on a sandstone cliff after dark Tuesday in San Clemente had the good fortune to do it while an Orange County Fire Authority helicopter was in the air, doing search-and-rescue night training, officials said.

"We call it the USAR – Urban Search and Rescue," said Capt. Marc Stone, spokesman for the OCFA.

The fire authority got a call at 6:50 p.m. reporting that a dog was stuck on a steep cliff, 40 feet down from the summit overlooking Calafia Beach in sandy conditions, Stone said. Firefighters responded from San Clemente and Dana Point, but then had to confer over how to approach a rescue in total darkness, Stone said.

"If we hadn't done anything, somebody might have gone out and tried to get the dog and been injured," Stone said.

It happened that an OCFA helicopter was in flight, training USAR personnel from Truck Company 61 of Buena Park on night-vision goggles, Stone said. Overhearing the radio traffic about the stranded dog, they called back, "Hey, we're airborne," and swooped in to hoist the dog up from the cliff.

Stone said the helicopter landed on top of the bluff on a San Clemente State Beach plateau, but he didn't have further information about the dog or its owner – just that the helicopter landed and the dog was fine.

"I don't know if the owner was there and took the dog home," Stone said, "but the dog was safe."

He said the fire authority does ongoing training after dark with its helicopters and USAR personnel on night-vision gear and hoist operations so that, "If we're called at night, we're still able to respond."